Enfold Me In Your Peace
by Elburn
Summary: Elwood remembers a time when he was frightened by a storm, and turned to the Penguin for comfort. Inspired by Margaret Rizza's, "Calm me, Lord", which we've been singing in choir. Bible quotations taken from Matthew 8:23-27, KJV.


**Enfold Me In Your Peace**

_by Fiona Conn_

The windows of the orphanage rattled against their frames, which creaked uneasily as another clap of thunder grumbled through the air, bringing with it a flash of lightening, the rain seeming to intensify.

A boy – Elwood – pulled his blankets a little closer and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the sounds and bright lights. It wouldn't have been so bad if Jake had been there – he would have had someone to whisper to, joke with, long after lights out, distracting him from the terrors of the night's weather.

Turning in his bed, Elwood peeked around the room where the other kids slept. The weather didn't seem to bother them, most of them sound. He wondered if Jake, with the family who had taken him home, was sleeping just as soundly.

It wasn't fair. They had been together through nearly everything, and now... now they had been split up. Curtis had been sympathetic, but there was very little he could do about it. Jake had gone with his new "parents" in stunned silence after they had chosen him. They hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye...

Another peal of thunder elicited a cry from Elwood as he pulled his blanket over his head. It did little to block out the bright white flash of lightening outside the window, however, and in a second, the boy had scarpered from his bed to the door. He couldn't take it. He needed to be around someone, anyone. Curtis might not be awake, he realized, but... maybe the Penguin was.

Elwood climbed the stairs to her office, trying not to look at the baleful Jesus that gained an extra shadow every time the lightening flashed, and knocked softly on the door. Soft footsteps on the other side, and then the door opened. The Penguin looked down at him with an expression that seemed stern, but also surprised and slightly concerned.

"Elwood, you should be in bed," she told him quietly.

Elwood nodded and rubbed at his eye with his sleeve. "I can't sleep."

When the thunder cracked over the roof, Elwood flinched, and the Penguin's expression softened, understanding.

"Why don't you come on in?" she said, stepping aside and opening the door a little further to allow him entrance. "We can say the devotions together."

Elwood's only response to that was a nod of agreement. It wasn't the fun and laughter that he might have had with Jake, but... maybe, at least, it would distract him for a little while.

Taking the bible from the smaller _prie dieu_, the Penguin quickly found the right chapter, and then set it down again, as Elwood knelt, clasping his hands atop the prayer desk. The Penguin likewise knelt at the larger prayer desk next to his, and then crossed herself, gazing up at the crucifix on the wall.

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – amen."

"Amen," Elwood whispered back.

There was a brief silence as the Penguin turned her eyes to the bible passage in front of her, and then began to read it out to him.

"_And when Jesus entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, 'Lord, save us, we perish!' And he saith unto them, 'why are ye fearful, o ye of little faith?' Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, 'what manner of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?'"_

As Elwood listened, he closed his eyes, imagining the scene. The tempest was like that which rattled the orphanage, with Elwood as one of the frightened disciples, watching the man with the white robe and long hair, in his mind's eye, as he reached out a hand and sternly told the weather to quieten down.

The Penguin paused long enough after reading the passage to let it sink in, before adding, "let us pray."

***

Elwood stood by the window, looking out at the heavy rain, no longer bothered by the thunder and lightening. He had grown up since that night at the orphanage – which no longer existed. Now, the Penguin had new charges at a hospital. One of those charges, a boy named Buster, who was no older than he had been during that storm, slept silently in the room, likewise not bothered by the weather.

Jake had ended up driving his new family up the wall after a week, and he had been returned to the care of the Penguin, much to Elwood's joy. However, Jake was now no longer with him, having passed on while in prison, and there was no way for him to ever return.

Elwood leaned his head against the wall. The weather might not bother him, but... he couldn't deny the storm going on in his heart. Discovering the truth the same day he himself had gotten out of prison had been akin to a kick in the stomach. He had a new family now... Cab, his "step-brother" through Curtis... Mack, his newly adopted brother whose talent he had helped to shine... and Buster, whom he had been asked to mentor, the closest thing he had to a son. But it didn't stop him from wishing that Jake could be there, to see it, and be part of it.

"_And behold, a great tempest arose in the sea... and he saith unto them, 'why are ye fearful, o ye of little faith?' Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm..."_

In his mind's eye, the man in the robe stood once more on the boat, his hand outstretched as he told the weather that it needed to be quiet. Somewhere in the back of his mind, music that Elwood remembered singing at services in jail whispered insistently, and he softly hummed along with it, mentally running through the words.

"_Calm me, Lord, as you calmed the storm; still me, Lord, keep me from harm. Let all the tumult within me cease. Enfold me, Lord, enfold me in your peace...."_

**END**


End file.
